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Battery for 2011 Macbook Pro

B

boppin

macrumors regular
Original poster
Jun 14, 2008
173
17
Germany
Hello,

does someone know:

Can I get a new battery for a 2011 MacBook Pro directly from Apple or AppleStore?

Is that possible?

On the Apple page I read that they offer batteries for 15 inch Macbook pros, but they didn't mention any model identifier (like 8,1 or "Early" or "Late 2011").

Thank you.
 
Personally, my MBP is getting close to needing a new battery and I will be going to Apple for the replacement. I am very confident that I can change this myself (I have stripped down my Mac on two different occasions), but I have not been able to find a reliable replacement from any source that I know for sure is genuine and matches the price that Apple offers. Using a battery from other sources can also result in CPU throttling down if it is not recognized correctly, so I have read (sorry, I did not bookmark those sites so I cannot quote directly).
 
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I've had no problems with an Egoway battery in my mid-2010 13" MBP. It was $50 on Amazon.
 
I just called AppleCare and an Apple store. They said that they aren't offering batteries but an authorized service provider could help.
 
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I just replaced the battery in a 15" mid 2010 i5 Macbook with this battery: http://www.ebay.ca/itm/Lumsing-Battery-for-Apple-MacBook-Pro-15-Series-A1321-A1286-2009-2010-Version/331919279469?ssPageName=STRK:MEBIDX:IT&_trksid=p2060353.m2749.l2649

Calibrated and it seems fine. Full charge is 7234 according to system report and coconut battery, although I fully expect it to drop a bit after the first few charges. A drop in maximum charge isn't uncommon with third party batteries. This third party battery maker is recognised as SMP in system report and simplo in coconut battery, just like my late 2013 13" with the original battery.
 
Audit13 said:
I just replaced the battery in a 15" mid 2010 i5 Macbook with this battery: http://www.ebay.ca/itm/Lumsing-Battery-for-Apple-MacBook-Pro-15-Series-A1321-A1286-2009-2010-Version/331919279469?ssPageName=STRK:MEBIDX:IT&_trksid=p2060353.m2749.l2649

Calibrated and it seems fine. Full charge is 7234 according to system report and coconut battery, although I fully expect it to drop a bit after the first few charges. A drop in maximum charge isn't uncommon with third party batteries. This third party battery maker is recognised as SMP in system report and simplo in coconut battery, just like my late 2013 13" with the original battery.
Click to expand...

How's that Lumsing battery been holding up for you? Was tempted to buy one but just can't find many longer term reviews at all.
 
indodude said:
How's that Lumsing battery been holding up for you? Was tempted to buy one but just can't find many longer term reviews at all.
Click to expand...
Sorry, I no longer have the Macbook so I can't say anything about the battery other than to say it's probably working fine. The MBP was sold to a co-worker who hasn't said anything adverse so far.
 
Audit13 said:
Sorry, I no longer have the Macbook so I can't say anything about the battery other than to say it's probably working fine. The MBP was sold to a co-worker who hasn't said anything adverse so far.
Click to expand...

Well I'll take that as a positive. It is frustrating when I can't buy an OEM one from apple when willing to pay. Nupower looks like the next best thing but nearly 170 to bring it to canada.
 
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Ya I know! 98 USD plus shipping and duty. Conversion rate. It is steep considering the laptop isn't worth much anymore but it is invaluable to me and my business which is why I'm hanging onto it so much. Lumsing showed up on ebay a lot but seemed too cheap to be good. But if you said you had a good experience maybe that is the way to go. Two local applecare approved places quoted 225+tax and 149+tax and couldn't tell me the brand. They say it comes unbranded from newertech but I can't find that in writing anywhere to verify either.
 
I finally “bit the bullet” and went with a NewerTech NuPower battery from BHPhoto in New York. I had tried to go with an Apple replacement, but they told me my system was considered obsolete. So, delivered to me in Winnipeg it was the same as you guys reported at $170. If I had gone with the same thing from OWC it would have been close to $200, so I saved a little bit.

I am still only a week into using this replacement and things are looking good so far, just hope it lasts.
 
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prisstratton said:
I finally “bit the bullet” and went with a NewerTech NuPower battery from BHPhoto in New York. I had tried to go with an Apple replacement, but they told me my system was considered obsolete. So, delivered to me in Winnipeg it was the same as you guys reported at $170. If I had gone with the same thing from OWC it would have been close to $200, so I saved a little bit.

I am still only a week into using this replacement and things are looking good so far, just hope it lasts.
Click to expand...


If you don’t mind, could you post some updates on your battery after a little while? I feel like there are a lot of ppl in our boat looking for solid reviews and testimonials. Myself included!
 
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I still have my (replacement) Egoway battery in my 2010 13" MBP since November and it's working fine. I use the MacBook on battery almost every day in school.
 
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indodude said:
If you don’t mind, could you post some updates on your battery after a little while? I feel like there are a lot of ppl in our boat looking for solid reviews and testimonials. Myself included!
Click to expand...

Most definitely. I have been searching for a suitable battery for some time now and the one consistent thing I found was a complete lack of solid reviews regarding replacement batteries. Anything I could find was literally "all over the map". The NuPower battery was not my first choice, I would have preferred another Apple battery as my original lasted very well. I have made a note in my calendar and will report back in 3 months.
 
Hi Everyone,

As promised, here is my report (a bit late……sorry) on how the NuPower replacement battery is working for me.

When I received the battery in April it had one charge cycle on it and it’s manufacture date was August 14, 2017, in other words it was 8 months old when I received it.

Full charge capacity reported as being: 9008 mAh, with a design capacity of: 8800 mAh.

I performed a calibration and this added another charge cycle.

I wanted to see how long it would last and I ran it down to 9 % charge remaining, at which point I was at a total of 4 hours and 35 minutes of use. I therefore estimated a total usage of 4 hours and 45 minutes (this time was further validated by the data I collected over 3 months). This of course added another charge cycle and also dropped the capacity slightly, down to 9007 mAh.

Please note: I do not use my Mac like this on a regular basis. I use it when I need to and otherwise have it plugged in.

At the beginning of May I used it to 27 % charge remaining and for whatever reason it dropped the capacity to 8995 mAh, I was hoping that this was not going to be a continuing downward trend in total battery capacity. But, a couple of weeks after that I ran it down to 5 % charge remaining, which added another charge cycle, but the capacity increased to 9002 mAh.

Since then things seemed to have settled down and there have no more fluctuations in total capacity. Currently I am sitting at a total of 4 charge cycles with a charge capacity of 9002 mAh. This has not changed since May and everything just seems to be rock solid at this point.

Testing: I tracked my usage time versus battery consumed throughout every day for 3 months. I averaged the data for the 3 month test period and it worked out to 4.77 hours or 4 hours 46 minutes total battery time. This fits bang on with my observed actual usage. Of course, this will fluctuate on a day to day basis depending on how you are using your Mac.

Is this as good as a genuine Apple battery - NO.

It is a GOOD battery and at the 6 month point it is behaving very solidly, let us hope this continues.

I hope you find this useful.

Edit: Saturday October 13, 2018. There has been a drastic change in battery performance over the last two weeks, my MBP was using 42 % of the battery in one hour. I performed SMC and NVRAM/PRAM reset and another battery calibration. This fixed the issue and battery performance is now improved, in the first hour of use after the calibration it used 16 % of the battery.

Edit: Saturday April 27, 2019. Battery performance remained good until January, then I noticed that the total usage was dropping again and is now approximately 4 hours. I am not tracking this as closely as I was, it is now just casual observation.

I would like to do another SMC, NVRAM/PRAM reset and battery calibration as I think that would gain back some battery performance (or more like, reset how my Mac uses the power), but, I have a 2011 MBP and the GPU failed before Christmas. The whole thing was flakey for a couple of months but it has finally settled down and is working well (for now), so I am a little reluctant to try the reset and calibration.

The battery itself is in good shape (no bulging) and is not losing capacity and it is still over design.

Full Charge Capacity: 8991 mAh
Design Capacity: 8800 mAh
Cycle Count: 7
 
Last edited:
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prisstratton said:
Hi Everyone,

As promised, here is my report (a bit late……sorry) on how the NuPower replacement battery is working for me.

When I received the battery in April it had one charge cycle on it and it’s manufacture date was August 14, 2017, in other words it was 8 months old when I received it.

Full charge capacity reported as being: 9008 mAh, with a design capacity of: 8800 mAh.

I performed a calibration and this added another charge cycle.

I wanted to see how long it would last and I ran it down to 9 % charge remaining, at which point I was at a total of 4 hours and 35 minutes of use. I therefore estimated a total usage of 4 hours and 45 minutes (this time was further validated by the data I collected over 3 months). This of course added another charge cycle and also dropped the capacity slightly, down to 9007 mAh.

Please note: I do not use my Mac like this on a regular basis. I use it when I need to and otherwise have it plugged in.

At the beginning of May I used it to 27 % charge remaining and for whatever reason it dropped the capacity to 8995 mAh, I was hoping that this was not going to be a continuing downward trend in total battery capacity. But, a couple of weeks after that I ran it down to 5 % charge remaining, which added another charge cycle, but the capacity increased to 9002 mAh.

Since then things seemed to have settled down and there have no more fluctuations in total capacity. Currently I am sitting at a total of 4 charge cycles with a charge capacity of 9002 mAh. This has not changed since May and everything just seems to be rock solid at this point.

Testing: I tracked my usage time versus battery consumed throughout every day for 3 months. I averaged the data for the 3 month test period and it worked out to 4.77 hours or 4 hours 46 minutes total battery time. This fits bang on with my observed actual usage. Of course, this will fluctuate on a day to day basis depending on how you are using your Mac.

Is this as good as a genuine Apple battery - NO.

It is a GOOD battery and at the 6 month point it is behaving very solidly, let us hope this continues.

I hope you find this useful.

Edit: Saturday October 13, 2018. There has been a drastic change in battery performance over the last two weeks, my MBP was using 42 % of the battery in one hour. I performed SMC and NVRAM/PRAM reset and another battery calibration. This fixed the issue and battery performance is now improved, in the first hour of use after the calibration it used 16 % of the battery.
Click to expand...
[doublepost=1556338553][/doublepost]love your avatar!, nice threads on a couple of sites, but . . . .

then what happened? its been more than 6 months and no word from you about the potential failure, please check in
 
prisstratton said:
I added an update to my previous post...
Click to expand...

it was unclear if you had your GPU repaired or not, but mine got iffy and then progressively worse until it took (sometimes) 15 or 20 restarts to boot up, I was certain it was anything else, except a failing GPU and tried all sorts of investigations and intercessions without success, finally searched for the "best" GPU replacement, being here in Japan that was problematic, especially sending the whole machine to the other side of the world

finally settled on "repairs@powerbookmedic.com" as they would take in just the logic board on a schedule, so down time was least, cost was a bit less than others, their video engendered confidence that they had the proper machine to do the work, one year warranty; now 5 months in and perfect running and start-up, highly recommended
 
if you're comfortable resetting and programing the machine each reboot . . . . fine for you, I'm not into deep diving, for me, better when it's broke, get it fixed since this is my only machine and a daily driver (how do newspapers exist any more?) and with any luck (some luck) this'll work for another year or two and by then Apple may make a 17 inch (iPad? or iPhone ! ! !) Happy Trails
 
The fix does survive a reboot, no problem. It does fail if there is a system update or a reset of the NVRAM/PRAM. I do like the idea of getting a new GPU, but I had not heard of any solutions that were guaranteed and/or permanent. I completely understand the feeling when you lose your "daily driver", I rely on my MBP for everything and when the GPU failed it felt as if someone had cut off my arm.

Best Regards.......
 
I have read that one of the troubles with our MBP-17 is that . . . . amazingly, it was poorly designed regarding heat dissipation (there are some videos by Louis Rossmann) and that any solution (akin to the crap shoot with batteries) is a never ending battle, that's another reason I opted for the GPU replacement; but nothing beats our first 6 years or so of reliability and nice screen, relative speed, upgradability, etc. now we limp along with either OS hacks or "vintage" heirloom fixes from time to time (you're just lucky (sort of) you're in North America) but we get no more OS updates except security patches
 
prisstratton said:
Hi Everyone,

As promised, here is my report (a bit late……sorry) on how the NuPower replacement battery is working for me.

When I received the battery in April it had one charge cycle on it and it’s manufacture date was August 14, 2017, in other words it was 8 months old when I received it.

Full charge capacity reported as being: 9008 mAh, with a design capacity of: 8800 mAh.

I performed a calibration and this added another charge cycle.

I wanted to see how long it would last and I ran it down to 9 % charge remaining, at which point I was at a total of 4 hours and 35 minutes of use. I therefore estimated a total usage of 4 hours and 45 minutes (this time was further validated by the data I collected over 3 months). This of course added another charge cycle and also dropped the capacity slightly, down to 9007 mAh.

Please note: I do not use my Mac like this on a regular basis. I use it when I need to and otherwise have it plugged in.

At the beginning of May I used it to 27 % charge remaining and for whatever reason it dropped the capacity to 8995 mAh, I was hoping that this was not going to be a continuing downward trend in total battery capacity. But, a couple of weeks after that I ran it down to 5 % charge remaining, which added another charge cycle, but the capacity increased to 9002 mAh.

Since then things seemed to have settled down and there have no more fluctuations in total capacity. Currently I am sitting at a total of 4 charge cycles with a charge capacity of 9002 mAh. This has not changed since May and everything just seems to be rock solid at this point.

Testing: I tracked my usage time versus battery consumed throughout every day for 3 months. I averaged the data for the 3 month test period and it worked out to 4.77 hours or 4 hours 46 minutes total battery time. This fits bang on with my observed actual usage. Of course, this will fluctuate on a day to day basis depending on how you are using your Mac.

Is this as good as a genuine Apple battery - NO.

It is a GOOD battery and at the 6 month point it is behaving very solidly, let us hope this continues.

I hope you find this useful.

Edit: Saturday October 13, 2018. There has been a drastic change in battery performance over the last two weeks, my MBP was using 42 % of the battery in one hour. I performed SMC and NVRAM/PRAM reset and another battery calibration. This fixed the issue and battery performance is now improved, in the first hour of use after the calibration it used 16 % of the battery.

Edit: Saturday April 27, 2019. Battery performance remained good until January, then I noticed that the total usage was dropping again and is now approximately 4 hours. I am not tracking this as closely as I was, it is now just casual observation.

I would like to do another SMC, NVRAM/PRAM reset and battery calibration as I think that would gain back some battery performance (or more like, reset how my Mac uses the power), but, I have a 2011 MBP and the GPU failed before Christmas. The whole thing was flakey for a couple of months but it has finally settled down and is working well (for now), so I am a little reluctant to try the reset and calibration.

The battery itself is in good shape (no bulging) and is not losing capacity and it is still over design.

Full Charge Capacity: 8991 mAh
Design Capacity: 8800 mAh
Cycle Count: 7
Click to expand...
Hey man. How is your OWC battery holding up after 4 years now? Is it still in service or are you moving on with something else?
 
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